Edinburgh has got it all going on in August which is why we keep coming back. The International Festival, International Book Festival, Fringe Festival, The West End Fair and the Military Tattoo, and we’ve pretty much done them all with the exception of the latter.
I think that this is our fourth time in Edinburgh during the festival. Of course, these days, when people talk of the “festival” they almost certainly mean the Fringe which is now the big one and not fringe at all. Last time we came it was just post the pandemic and was slightly more subdued with an odd mix of in person and online events. This time things are going to be back to normal we hope.
Another change for this year is that for the first time we had a travelling companion as our younger son has come with us too. Working out what two people want to see can be tricky so it’s lucky that he’s easy going and has readily accepted our itinerary.
Tattoo Me
We had no shows today as we only arrived lunchtime but we had booked to see the Tattoo in the evening. When I asked a Scottish friend what he thought of the Tattoo his considered response was “It’s for tourists”. I then said that we had booked to go and his response to this was “That’s ok, you’re tourists.” All true and when we made our way up Castlehill it was clear from the accents of those around us that many were indeed tourists.
I watched the Tattoo on telly when I was younger and remember lots of military bands marching up and down. If I don’t sound over enamoured by this then that’s because I wasn’t particularly. So why did we book to go you may well ask? Well, it was partly becuase we’d never been before and partly because we could then tick that off and say that we’d been.
Well, now I can tick that off but also say wow, what an experience! Yes there were “lots of military bands marching up and down” but they weren’t stiff and uninteresting and some, notably the American Naval Bands, were humorous, had singers and electric guitars. There was also a colourful section with Indian players and dancers, another with Scottish dancers and lots and lots of bagpipes.
The Scottish dancers pulled off the best trick of the evening. There were about 60 dancers doing their reels all in matching purple outfits. Then were was a change of beat and they were all now wearing matching green outfits. I did a doubletake and wished that I’d been paying more attention so I could work out how they’d managed to do it. If it wasn’t the highlight of the evening it was certainly the most memorable moment.
We all came away chilled to the bone but having throughly enjoyed the show and even saying that we would come again. Can you tick something off your to do list more than once?